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Wedding Cakes: Getting Started...

Even though the tradition was adopted from the Western World, wedding cake cutting and serving form an important part of the Sri Lankan wedding. Usually in western countries all the layers of a wedding cake is made with real cake and the cake pieces are served to the guests straight from the real wedding cake. The top tier of the cake is saved till the first anniversary of the couple and is sometimes made of fruit cake which could be stored for a long period of time.

However, in Sri Lanka the custom is quite different and the wedding cake is actually a structure decorated with icing and does not contain real cake. The structure contains a small piece of real cake which will be cut by the bride and groom on the wedding day to fulfill the cake cutting tradition. The guests are served with separately cut and beautifully wrapped rich cake during the reception, mostly at the beginning of the ceremony.

1. Wedding Cake Style

Wedding cakes can have different shapes, colors and styles. First decide the type of cake you are looking for, whether it should be traditional, simple, elegant or totally different and unique. Go through the internet and look at wedding cake pictures to help you get ideas. Then decide whether you are going to make it with real cake or use an available cake structure.

The cakes are usually ordered before 3-4 months from your wedding date. If the wedding will be held in the peak season it’s always safer to reserve the vendor as early as possible. After reserving the date you can leisurely finalize the style, colour and decorations of the structure. Keep in mind that the rich cake pieces should be made as early as possible. It is said that the taste of the cake gets sweeter with time therefore sooner you order the better its’ taste will be.

Be prepared to pay a premium price for your cake as wedding cakes are quite expensive. Keep in mind that the more decorations you want on your cake, the more costly it will be. Therefore keep the designs simple yet elegant and let your decorator help you with money saving tips when choosing the design.

Fresh flowers contain chemicals which are used to keep them fresh for longer and could be harmful for the health. Yet, the use of fresh flowers can bring out the real beauty of your cake quite naturally. On the other hand you can use sugar flowers on your cake but you should be prepared to pay a high price for the effort and time they really take. Whether you are going to use fresh flowers or icing flowers is really up to you, but make sure to take the decision wisely after talking to your baker.

It is possible to use not-so-ordinary colours such as blue or green on your wedding cake as the base colour, but it is always much better to use light colours as some colours are not so appetizing to the guests. To match the cake with your wedding theme use non-ordinary colours for decorating the cake and use a matching colour on the cake as the base color. If you expect the baker to come close to the exact colors you want, you should take at least a 3 inch square swatch of fabric in each color you want to the sugar artist. Very dark colors are hard to achieve and can also leave temporarily stains on teeth if eaten.

Ask the reception venue consultants where the wedding cake is placed normally by other couples. You should consider the background, lighting etc to decide where the cake should be placed. Make sure that the coffee table is strong enough to hold the cake and the place has good space so that the cake is safe from accidents. After all these cake structures are quite expensive and many bakers keep an additional deposit for cake holders and other accessories.